CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY:"STOP THE INSANITY!"

This rant has nothing to do with the novel/film 'Cry the Beloved Country', or Susan Powter's diet & exercise plan & catchphrase; although i combined them for this post [a stream of semi consciousness rant] which is about PRESERVATION

"Progress is our most important product" was General Electric's motto, back in the day, spouted weekly by Ronald Ray-gun, on their General Electric Theater. It has always stuck in my mind, as has "Industry on Parade" and DuPont's  "Better Things for Better Living...Through Chemistry." which eventually got bastardized to "Better Living Through Chemistry"- 3 catch phrases- brain washings- tv propaganda- of my childhood. "Progress is our most important product" is NOT my motto. I am appalled at the destruction that has been and is created in the name of 'progress'...

While driving home today, west on LA Highway 80, through the lush deep emerald spring Louisiana "green-ness", the allee of forests and ancient symmetrically planted pecan orchards, on both sides of the highway, i would see an abandoned house here, or building there that nature had almost reclaimed. i also saw where someone had chopped out a chunk of those pecan orchards to make way for progress, or their house. I wondered how long it would be before someone bulldozed MORE of the old sacred pecan groves to either put up a McMansion, or some other god awful eyesore. mankind [oxymoron] keeps spreading like a cancer, eating into, polluting and killing nature.

old growth pecan orchard

 

the drive from Monroe to Rayville or on to Tallulah, Mound or Delta on Hwy 80 [at this time of year] is a religious experience; those pecan groves are like cathedrals. i remember them as far back as i CAN remember. i kept stopping the car to get out and make photos of them, and things i KNOW will not be here much longer- which, i think at times IS my 'raison d'être... to preserve the memory of what i can, while i can, in photographs

this little house was so sweet- and looks like it could be renovated; there are beautiful old time roses and or morning glories or both, flourishing [not seen in photo]

this little house was also salvageable- could be a great space

I was also thinking of all the photographers of the FSA, during 1935–44 [Walker Evans, Russell Lee, Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange, Marion Post Wolcott] who went across America photographing the horrors of the great depression- especially in the destitute rural deep south [which, in some places, has NOT changed all that much!] and how those images have stuck in my head forever; influencing my own work. i have, for as long as i can remember, been attracted to, if not obsessed with photographing old home places, shotgun houses, hand painted signs, folk art type things: rusted and falling down barns and abandoned buildings, junk stores,etc. old wood, brick and rust excite me: and in Louisiana [and the deep south] rust rot abandonment and decay are everywhere... but not forever

Having been working between Louisiana and Europe for the last 20 years, it really makes me crazy when i see how we have, since the 60s, abandoned our historical down town areas [except for major cities and a very FEW small towns] in lieu of malls, strip malls, suburbia, etc. Europe has preserved it's city centers; even rebuilt them, after wars. we have let ours fall into ruin until they resemble war zones. We'd rather go level a forest and build a gated community, than put the work and money into renovating our 'former' communities. everybody wants isolation, privacy, more space. i remember when downtown Monroe was thriving; every building had a business in it; people were actually there in droves ALL THE TIME. The decline ruin and eventual loss of our down town [and especially the Paramount Theater] is a real shame. But in this new depression, i doubt seriously that salvaging /rebuilding whats left is on anyone's mind. its not cost effective.

"Roosevelt believed that the severity of the Depression was due to excessive business competition that lowered wages and prices, which he believed lowered demand and employment. He argued that government economic planning was necessary to remedy this:

...A mere builder of more industrial plants, a creator of more railroad systems, an organizer of more corporations, is as likely to be a danger as a help. Our task is not ... necessarily producing more goods. It is the soberer, less dramatic business of administering resources and plants already in hand."

 Below: Rayville, Louisiana

Rhymes Memorial Library

 

Joy Theater- which SHOULD be renovated

downtown/railroad tracks

I wish i had shot the Rayville Police Station today- it is a very cool old building- as are a lot of the old ones left standing. Will go back with the big guns, the real film cameras, and get it soon. Back in the day, when the passenger trains ran through them, those were thriving towns. IF we had AmTrak connected from Jackson, Ms to Marshall Tx, they ALL could be again. Hello? The Interstates and WalMart have killed small town America.

Drove and stopped, pulled over, and made fotos over and over again- although i have done so, so many times. it is always a different experience, and always, i find something new. like the hand painted church sign below. i also glimpsed a rusted bridge, but couldn't stop/park to get out and shoot it. will do so when going east, next time.

highway 80

Jones Chapel LC

U.S. Shoe Repair- Hwy 80. i have shot this with various cameras many times.

 

pecanland- obviously not the mall, y'all

  

a former stone fountain- or what?- possibly an old well, or spring?-by the side of the road. what IS it's story?

i noticed some things were missing; places i had photographed a few years back. Gone. Driving to Columbia several years ago, i was angered that the new worthless 4 lane had destroyed Riverton- the old store that had been there forever, which i had seen since childhood was gone. Same thing happened the last time i was in Tallulah, two whole blocks of stuff gone. there is an OLD antique galleria type mall facing Hwy 80.There are cool art deco stone facades around the roof; you can see through to the other end of the block- there once were stores in there. of course the whole downtown, or most of it, is abandoned. the old Coca Cola bottling building is a treasure.

From Wikipedia:

"Tallulah was the first city in the United States to have an indoor shopping mall. A businessman built Bloom's Arcade in 1925, in the style of European arcades. It was one hall with stores on either side much like the ones today. The hall opened into the street on both ends. This landmark is still in Tallulah on U.S. Route 80, although no longer in use. "

i was obviously born in the wrong era, despite the fact that i love modern technology; or should i say electronics/devices. i like the look and feel of old things: i love antiques; i still love [and use] 'old school' cameras and film, manual typewriters, and 'real' fountain pens; family quilts; vintage china; quality things that are of value to me. things that were well made, and meant to last a lifetime; things that have a wonderful look and feel to them. AND now i find they are making retro push lawn mowers [no gas or electronic- nada] like they had 100 years ago- which is considered "green" - but let's face it, its mainly about gas prices. BUT... i plan to get one; and a solar panel & generator for the riding mower [lol]... i wish. if they can put them in calculators, why not in every damned thing... like laptops & cameras? oh yes... we MUST consume fossil fuels.

i'm not really sure if some of the high school students who saw my photo exhibit today 'got' what it was really about; they have seen a lot of the images in real life, all their lives. it IS about Louisiana [w/3 Mississippi photos thrown in- both my grandmothers were from Mississippi] - it is about images of places and things here in Louisiana- and the Delta- that have already or will vanish in our lifetimes- the many vanishing images of our history and of our culture- along with some monuments that will continue to stand: like the Saint Louis Cathedral [which i shot when i was 13], the Evangeline Statue in St. Martinville [which i shot many decades later]

With this year marking the 200th anniversary of Louisiana becoming a state [when, before the signing of the Louisiana purchase on April 30, 1803 we were about 1/3 of the whole country!- thank you Napoleon & Jefferson] - i thought exhibiting various images i had captured from around the state was in order. [its also the 2nd anniversary of the BP oil spill, which gave a whole different meaning to the "Shrimp & Petroleum Festival'] i have so many more from all over the state, the south, the world. but i had to made a choice and chose to focus on primarily this region- and new orleans where i lived many years.

One girl called me over and asked me what was the meaning of a hand painted sign of religious ranting [shot in Tallulah] which i titled "The Sabbath Year" - i told her i had "no idea"- that "i took it because i found it interesting"- and added "it is no longer there." and told her the rest of the story [in the next paragraph]

THE SABBATH YEAR

Whats equally as 'interesting' is that this was at an old gas/service station, which was at the time, i believe a tire repair place. Outside, in front of the big glass picture window, which all old 'service' stations had, the man had placed a BIG sofa; above it was a clothes line. Hanging on the clothes line, held on with clothes pins, were sheets and sheets of lined spiral notebook paper, covered with prophesies, scripture and religious rantings... and yes, i did make photos! thank de lawd. This kind of folk art fascinates me; i live for it! i get a rush of excitement when i come up on something and discover it for the 1st time.

Just as Mardi Gras and Halloween and Star/Sky People [Ancient ancestors] are an influence and huge part of my drawings and paintings; so are the acts of creating new images from others, in my collage work; the kind of 'deep south' funk and eccentricity -which is often overlooked- is a major part of what i love to capture as a photographer [although it is not my only genre, by any means] here: the beautiful, and the not so beautiful; the humorous and the sad. i've always found Louisiana to be tragically beautiful; beautiful with an underlying sadness, mystery and magic about it; overflowing with a lot of everyday things we might not notice, or scarcely notice, that we would see nowhere else; things that we have become too accustomed to, which surround us; the perishing, the fading, the slowly disappearing...

Progress is NOT our most important product... unless we can progress without destroying to do so. My motto is "Renovate! Don't desecrate or annihilate! Re-purpose, Re-cycle and Re-create!" ... and keep making them crazy signs and stuff... 

[C]2012 DOUG DUFFEY